December 10: Rangoon: Burmese authorities on Sunday arrested three democracy activists who attempted to organise a ceremony marking International Human Rights’ Day, effectively squashing the rare show of dissent.

“U Myint Aye and two others were arrested at 9:00 a.m. local time at Bogalay Township, and then released around 1:00 p.m.,” said Mar Ky, a spokesman for the 88 Generation Students Group, a dissident group committed to peaceful resistance against Burma’s military regime that has ruled the country since crushing student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988.

Myint Aye, a member of the former students’ group, planned to draw 100 people to Bogalay, Irrawaddy Division, to commemorate international human rights’ day Sunday in Burma, a country whose rulers are notorious worldwide for their human rights’ abuses.

The peaceful show of defiance was silenced by the swift arrests of Myint Aye and two other leaders an hour before the ceremony was scheduled to begin, Mar Ky said in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The three were quickly released after the ceremony was cancelled.

Myint Aye was previously arrested on September 28 after he publicly complained about the regime’s detention of 88 Generation Students leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe.

He was released in the second week of November.

The 88 Generation Students Group has carried out several non-violent protest campaigns in recent months including a signature gathering effort to petition for the freedom of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and nationwide prayer sessions calling for a resolution of the country’s political impasse.

Burma has been under military rule since 1962, when former strongman General Ne Win seized power. A new lineup of generals took control in 1988 after a brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy movement that left thousands dead.

The regime has ignored the outcome of a 1990 general election that should have brought the victorious party, the National League of Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, to power 16 years ago.

Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest, where she languishes now, for about 11 of the past 17 years.